A Look at the Vintage Guitar Market in 2017

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What a year it has been! Economic, political, and social issues have dominated the news worldwide.

Given stagnation of interest rates in many countries investors continue to look at alternative alternatives to maximise returns on their investments. Whilst wine and coins are good examples of traditional collectables in this market, guitars are becoming increasingly popular. And for good reason. Many models have seen significant growth compared to more traditional investments (stocks, commodities, etc).

To help make sense of the guitar market, we’ve put together 5 indices alongside guitar experts and financial experience. These indices are similar to stock market indices like the S&P500 or FTSE100, for example.

To collate the indexes we use values for the top collectable guitars from each manufacturer (using mint condition values). Each index has a yearly average of the guitars that make up the index, indexed back to 2012 = 100. Our VGP50 index is a collection of the top 50 guitars that make up the Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, and Martin indices.

Martin 12

Our Martin index is by far the most erratic with big losses in 2016. However, the index is also the best performer this year. It has risen from 97 points, to just above its original value at 102 points in 2017. We expect to see continued growth in 2018 where the index could hit well over 110. This growth will likely be driven by the rarest guitars, including the 1930 OM-42.

VGP 50

Overall investing in highly collectible guitars has provided a net positive return of +6% over the past 7 years – most of this has been driven by collectable Gibson models. We expect to see a continued increase in guitar prices (low to high-end) over the coming 12 months due to instability and stagnation in traditional investment markets.